Duke and Duchess of Cambridge greeted by topless dancers in Marau

The Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge are given a traditional welcome as they
arrive in Marau in the Solomon Islands, by fearsome warriors and topless
dancers.

12:46PM BST 17 Sep 2012

Spear-carrying tribesmen, painted with white war paint and whooping aggressively, rushed at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after their aircraft landed on a tiny dirt airstrip.

The warriors only laid down their arms when the chief of the Tetekanji area, Cassiano Lovoli, 65, decided the Royal couple were friendly.

The ceremony is the traditional means of greeting visitors to Marau, on the southern tip of the island of Guadalcanal. A lookout blows a conch shell to sound to alarm to warriors that someone has arrived, then the warriors shout: “Maybe they bring peace or maybe their bring death.”

Only the chief of the tribe can decide whether visitors are friend or foe.

Once the warriors had been calmed, Prince William and Kate were welcomed to Marau by the premier of Guadalcanal province, Anthony Veke, and the MP for East Guadalcanal, Bradley Tovusia, before a choir of children from Potau Community High School sang two verses of the National Anthem. The Duke and Duchess sang along with the choir.

Then the royal couple were garlanded with long necklaces made of shell money.

The colourful necklaces, worth up to £150 each, took three months to make, using romo shells, nut shells and the teeth of dolphins found washed up on the shore.

The Duke was given his garlands by Marie-Claire, 13, and Amelina, 15, and the Duchess received hers from Gealyn, 17, and Batistina, 16. As is traditional, the girls were bare-breasted, as were more than 30 other women who danced for them in Marau.

The couple’s 15-minute visit had caused such excitement that people had walked up to six hours through forest paths to get to Marau, which is around 60 miles from the capital, Honiara.

The Duke and Duchess then made their way down a 150 yard stretch of rush matting sprinkled with wild ginger petals, and boarded a waiting motor yacht to go to the neighbouring islands of Marapa and Tavanipupu.